With nine ITU Triathlon World Cup races added to the calendar, the 2010 triathlon season will provide the world’s best triathletes with an unrivalled chance to compete at international cities and venues as the sport of triathlon continues to grow on the global stage.

Complementing the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series, the ITU Triathlon World Cup gives the top elites a chance to score extra World Series points through the integrated system and developing athletes are provided with an opportunity to earn starting places in the hotly contested world championship series.

“ITU are delighted to see the high level of interest and enthusiasm for World Cup events,” said ITU Secretary General Loreen Barnett. “With nine races across four continents, coupled with our World Championship Series, we are looking forward to an exciting year of top calibre events.”

Australia will host the opening race of the year with the beach resort of Mooloolaba, just outside of Brisbane, getting the season underway on 28 March, with Sydney hosting the first race of the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series just two weeks later.

Mexico appears next on the calendar with the northern city of Monterrey welcoming the triathletes on 18 April before they jet off to the oldest race on the calendar, the famed Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup on the Japanese island a week later.

June marks the start of the Olympic qualifying points system for the 2012 London Olympic Games which adds extra importance to the subsequent events throughout the year.

Holten in the Netherlands, the hosts of the 2009 ETU Triathlon European Championships, will hold a race in July with the excitable crowds of Tiszaujvaros in Hungary welcoming the ITU circuit to their city on 8 August. Two weeks afterwards the 2006 ITU Triathlon World Championship city of Lausanne in Switzerland will welcome the sport back to the shores of Lake Geneva.

Following the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series Grand Final in the Hungarian capital of Budapest in mid-September, the ITU Triathlon World Cup races in Tongyeong, Republic of Korea, and Huatulco, Mexico, will conclude the 2010 season in style with points accumulated in these races carrying over to the 2011 World Series.

Des Moines in Iowa, USA, appears on the calendar in June with the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup. The large prize purse always attracts the very best athletes with Canada’s double Olympic medallist, Simon Whitfield, winning the men’s race in 2009 following an electric sprint finish.

All of the events will be filmed and televised around the world on ITU’s global magazine show.